Was the dead mother of this baby pygmy elephant poisoned? The answer may lie in your supermarket trolley, writes Simon Watt

We often think of the natural world as silent and serene. Deep in the tropical
rainforest on the island of Borneo, this could not be further from the
truth.

The air is filled with the chatter of birds and the clatter of gibbons and
orang-utans as they crash through the trees overhead. Cicadas roar like
chainsaws. It feels as though there is life everywhere and it is shouting at
you joyously.

Last week, however, the enduring image of this island paradise was of death.

A shocking photograph, released by the local wildlife department and flashed
around the world, showed a baby pygmy elephant, barely three months old,
tugging and nuzzling at its dead mother in an attempt to wake her.

Conservationists had done their best to revive the elephant but it was to no
avail. The mother’s death would have been slow and agonising.